World War Hulk Interview & Teaser

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Greg Pak prepares IGN for the biggest Marvel battle of the summer.

By Richard George

On June 13, 2007 (that's next Wednesday) the Marvel Universe will be hit by something it never expected. The Hulk has returned from his exile on Sakaar, and he is pissed. He holds the Earth's heroes responsible for all of the recent tragedy in his life, including the death of his wife and unborn son. He's specifically targeting the Illuminati, the clandestine group of heroes responsible for his trip to space. Iron Man, Black Bolt, Dr. Strange, Namor, Charles Xavier and Reed Richards have a lot of explaining to do, and nothing will stand in the Green Goliath's path. If you're just now thinking of jumping into comics with World War Hulk, be sure to checkout our Event Guide (by clicking here) to prepare.

Greg Pak is the man responsible for "Planet Hulk" and its evolution into this World War. Guiding the Hulk from slave to king to revenge-seeking maniac took well over a year, and Pak has been there for every step and every punch (and there were a lot of those). Wanting an inside look at the event, IGN Comics caught up with Pak to talk about every angle of the five-issue blockbuster story. IGN is also proud to present some very interesting teasers from the first issue of World War Hulk. Those can be found throughout this interview. Enjoy!

IGN Comics: Jumping from a year-long epic Hulk story to something like World War Hulk must be quite the experience. First off, how did these two projects get started? Were Planet Hulk and World War Hulk pitched as one unit?

Greg Pak: What goes up must come down, so from the first day that Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada told me about "Planet Hulk," we knew it would lead to the smashfest that became "World War Hulk."

IGN Comics: As you wrote Planet Hulk, and as the Marvel Universe changed during his exile, were there any elements of World War Hulk that changed significantly?

Pak: Certain details changed during the course of story development, but the great thing was that we always remained true to the emotional and thematic core of the storyline. This is an epic tale that began with page one of "Planet Hulk" over a year ago. It's been an insane amount of fun to work on such a long-term project, to have the chance to seed elements over a year ago that are paying off now in such a critical way for our hero.

IGN Comics: Any amusing stories you can relate to the fans about the development of this story?

Pak: I was totally fixated on Morbius the Living Vampire for a while, and really, really, really wanted to work him into the story. Alas, I bring to you today the sad spoiler that my favorite Marvel bloodsucker will not significantly affect the course of "World War Hulk." (Probably for the better, I might add, but hey, maybe there's a "What If" story in there somewhere...)

IGN Comics: Planet Hulk had the relative good fortune of standing on its own while the rest of the Marvel Heroes (minus the X-Men!) went to war. Has writing the Hulk changed (both the actual process and your own perception of the character) now that you're standing at the epicenter of one of Marvel's tent pole events?

Pak: Since "Planet Hulk" and "World War Hulk" (and the super-secret third part of the trilogy) were all conceived as sequential elements of a giant epic almost two years ago, I've had the incredible luxury of building the character of the Hulk for fourteen issues in preparation for "World War Hulk." That means I've had months and months to get to know this character and follow him through his changes -- so in terms of writing the Hulk, moving from "Planet Hulk" to "World War Hulk" was seamless.

The biggest challenge was moving from the savage planet of Sakaar to the center of the Marvel Universe. We created Sakaar from whole cloth -- and editor Mark Paniccia and I controlled everything that happened there. Now we're in the middle of the Marvel Universe, coordinating with dozens of other storylines and characters. It's a big challenge but a ton of fun -- I've had the chance to hobnob, brainstorm, and trade ideas with the best writers and biggest brains in the business. And there's always that great potential for really amazing new ideas when you're dealing with so many elements.

IGN Comics: Looking back on Planet Hulk, what elements of the story are you most proud of? Is there anything about it that you'd want to go back and change?

Pak: I'm ridiculously proud of the whole run -- I think everyone who worked on the book felt it was special and really went above and beyond to make it as strong as it could be. But to single a few things out... I'm proud of the way we built Hulk's emotional arc during the course of the story. He genuinely changed during the tale, starting as a raging brawler and eventually becoming a righteous conquering emperor. The scope of the story allowed us enough time for his development to happen organically through his interactions with his various Warbound companions and the people of Sakaar. By the end of the story, I think the emotional impact felt earned, and that's just about my highest goal as a storyteller.

I'm also proud of the supporting cast we built for the Hulk and of the insanely detailed history, mythology, ecology, geography, sociology, and zoology we worked out for the savage planet of Sakaar (big props here to Anthony Flamini for his work on the "Planet Hulk Gladiator Guidebook"). It's a great world and we haven't seen the last of it.